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The unemployment rate fell to 13.3% in May after almost surpassing 15% in April. The African-American unemployment however rose slightly to 16.8%, meaning an additional 87,000 black workers joined the unemployment line in May.
“At a time of unprecedented anguish for our country, today’s jobs report demonstrates just how far we have to go to rebuild the economy, especially for Black Americans,” former U.S. labor department economist William Rodgers said in a statement. “This is consistent with previous recessions and recoveries: Blacks are the first to get fired and the last to get rehired.”
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While many industries saw job growth last month, transportation and warehousing positions fell by the thousands. Those areas also happen to be staffed largely by workers of color, according to the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Three out of every 10 workers in warehouses, the postal service, child care and public transit are black, compared to two out of 10 who are white, the center said in an analysis.
Bill Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, said the jobs report shows a pattern companies have used for decades after the job market begins its recovery from a recession.
“Typically within a downturn, the employers hire back all the white people in the first few months and then the black unemployment rate starts dropping,” Spriggs said.
The black unemployment rate has historically been double that of white workers, economists said. That gap could grow even wider as the U.S. climbs out from under the pandemic, Spriggs said.
Spriggs and other economists said Friday’s data confirms that blacks were the first to lose their jobs in March and since then haven’t been brought back to work even though jobs are returning.